Exit 38 - some weekday afternoon in June

I headed out with Justin and Marika on a nice afternoon in June (I'm writing this up some weeks later).  Justin had convinced me to try a few climbs at the Substation wall, a place I'd long disdained for its dankness and proximity to the railroad tressels.  Well, it turns out it's a great place to climb.  Let's see, we did a 5.9, a 5.10b (twice), 5.10a, and a 5.10b with a 5.10d start.  All of them were excellent, I thought.  The first 5.9 and 5.10b were quite short.  I couldn't do the 5.10b the first time.  I was following Justin's advice which was to match hands on this tiny hold.  No way could I do that.  I had to rest.  But I devised a much better way - go straight to the right hand on that hold and then get your feet high and stand up to the "thank God" hold which was just within reach with the left.  I was able to do the climb without incident the second time once this sequence was figured out.  The 5.10a was a breeze up until an overhanging section with a dirty off-width crack on the right side.  The difficulties, however, were only brief and there were nice jugs above to grab onto and yard up.  The final 5.10b with the 10d start proved perplexing at first, but a second attempt proved it quite easy.  It was a slanting pinchy type of move but nothing harder than we've done bouldering inside.  The toughest move was getting over a bulge about 3/4ths the way up.  Many attempts thwarted me until I figured out a very simple way to mantle up on to it.  I've forgotten it now!  Maybe it will come back to me next time.

Tieton - Royal Columns, Goose Egg Mountain, The Bend-  May 29th

Watch the "Ride the Lightning" movie

We had yet another bad weather weekend almost everywhere in the state.  Two spots that looked reasonable (mostly cloudy) was Tieton and Vantage.  We made the guess that Vantage was going to be crowded and opted for the less popular Tieton River Canyon.  We had ideas to try "Ride the Lightning", the new 5.9 route put up a couple of years ago on Goose Egg Mountain.  We set out early Saturday morning (not so early after playing around with topo and aerial photography software) in miserable rainy weather that finally abated somewhere around Cle Elum, giving way to some clear skies.  On the way up to Goose Egg Mountain, it started misting a bit and we decided to scrap the idea of Goose Egg in favor of some cragging at the Royal Columns; there was better weather back there.  The place was more crowded than last year, no doubt due to the new bridge.  There's no need to Tyrolean Traverse or walk a long way now.  Michael wanted to climb "Mushmaker" which I had a tough time with last year.  Instead of relying on my memory, we looked in Smoot's book which has the route labeled incorrectly.  We ended up climbing "First Blood" which is 5.8 and offwidth.  When we realized we hadn't climbed Mushmaker, it all fell into place...didn't recall the offwidth, nor moving from the crack to the right into the main crack, or the fact that the climb wasn't an open book, etc.  While another party was on the real Mushmaker, we entertained ourselves with a spectacular climb up "Western Front" (5.3).  Finally, we got back to Mushmaker (5.7) and enjoyed the long vertical crack...I was able to jam the entire way up.  Still painful, but no rest necessary - definite progress.

By this time, the weather appeared to be improving around Goose Egg Mountain so we headed over.  We started hiking up to the base of "Ride the Lightning" around 2:30pm.  The trail up to the base is super steep - wore out my calves (although the climb would be tougher on them)!  Using double ropes, I set out on the first pitch 5.8+.  It was easy at first but the higher I went, the harder it got.  Though it's a new route, the ratings feel distinctly Tietonesque and stiff!  Near the top, my feet and arches were wasted and in order to save time (and not have to do the crux of the pitch on very thin holds), Michael opted to come up and continue past.

Both the first and second pitches are super long.  We were already pretty high up and it appeared we had another full rope length to get to the roof at the top of the dihedral.  Michael set off on more thin holds but eventually ran out of gear.  I followed up and handed him more and he continued up.  This was our second hanging belay.  I wasn't two crazy about these first two (or 1.5) pitches mainly because it was all slab and thin and wore my feet out!  The dihedral however, was stellar!  It, along with the roof, and the short pitch that followed made the climb totally worthwhile.  The exposure was fantastic too, definitely the most that I'd experienced on a climb to date.  Back to the climb, I couldn't get too many solid jams in the dihedral so I opted for more thin gym-like moves to get me to the top and to the traverse over to the next hanging belay under the roof.  At least if it were raining, I'd be dry.  There were a few drops here and there.  What's more important to mention though was the frigid howling wind!  It was really miserable.  We hadn't counted on such cold weather up here and were unprepared for it.  While climbing, you could blot it from your mind, but the belays were hard to endure.  I was nearly blown over a couple of times while belaying Michael up the dihedral.

Michael led off again up the third pitch which was another steep and difficult dihedral, although much shorter.  It was lots of fun.  At the top, we had ideas of going on, since this next pitch looked easy (it wouldn't last), but we decided to set up the rappel and head down.  It was late and too cold anyway!

We still had a decent amount of daylight so we opted to end the day at the Bend on "Ed's Jam", a delightful and long 5.8 hand crack.  I really felt like I was starting to get the knack of crack climbing today and this climb proved it.  Long fun day!

Exit 38 - May 19th

A nice Wednesday afternoon saw Justin, Marika, and I at the usual spots around the train tressle at Exit 38.  It was actually a short afternoon.  The highlight was definitely the long 10a at Nevermind wall which I was able to do this year no problem.

Leavenworth, Castle Rock and more - April 24th

<pictures soon>  Robert and I headed out for Castle Rock early Saturday morning.  This time we were followed by Justin and Marika in their own car (they probably didn't want to stay as late as we did).  Being almost exclusive sport climbers (not for long!), it would be the first time for them to Leavenworth.  We were at Castle Rock first and jumped on "Saber" (old school 5.5).  Robert led Marika and I led Justin.  That was a weird feeling - me leading the 5.11x climber.  I'd forgotten how great the climb was.  I got a laugh at Marika who was in front of me when she got her foot caught in a crack.  OK, I wouldn't have mentioned this except she got upset with me for laughing...hee hee!  The next climb of the day was a couple repetitions of "Old Gray Mare" (5.8).  Robert set up a toprope on this continuously strenuous climb and we all had our turn at it.  Justin and Marika took off and Robert climbed up again and decided to hook up with the upper pitches of Canary (5.7).  The upper pitch was really fun - quite exposed and steep.  The holds were pretty small but all there.  Again, we were on top of Castle Rock.  Heck, why not go up one more time?  We climbed the south face of Jello Tower (5.8) and I then led Midway Direct (5.6) which has to be my favorite climb so far in Washington.  It's such a stellar climb, easy enough and exposed...just a fun cruise.  We had thoughts of climbing Catapult next but were loathe to walk off Castle Rock again.  So we headed down to Dogleg Crack (5.8).  Aw, another crack...pain!  Robert did a great job of leading.  I had a hard time with the beginning but was able to do it without falling.  It was good to have the crack straighted out high up.  We ended the day with a 5.10 sport route that challenged us very much the way a gym climb did.  Again, we were the last to leave the area and got home at around 11pm.  Great trip, guys!

Here is Marika on Saber.  She'd just gotten her foot stuck in the crack below.  I thought it was funny...not sure if she did.  Tee hee...

(Top) Canary (Bottom) Midway

Leavenworth, Condormorphine, 5.10b, and other climbs - March, 2004

Robert and Micheal headed out to Vantage on Saturday but I needed to hang around town and take care of business. I told them I'd meet them the following morning at around 8am at the "Waffle House". So, as I drove into town right on time, I looked for the bright yellow and black sign of the chain restaurant. There was none. I then retraced my path and looked a little more intently. Then I saw the tiny little sign reading "Sandy's Waffle Haus". Oh, that's it! And so it was. As I was ordering my Belgian Waffles, Michael and Robert were shocked at my disdain at the sloppy sugar fruit sauce they put on waffles. I would have none of it. After our meal, we drove out and found the little trail leading up to the buttress. I brought my video camera along, the first trip ever, and filmed us as we headed up.

(top) Cashmere Mountain (see the nice views?), (bottom) Condor Buttress.  The lower pitches of Condorphamine Addiction are actually off to the right, but you can see the upper pitches on the right side of the photo.

45 minutes later, we were at the base of the climb.  I think we were under the impression that the first pitch was 5.10a right away.  It didn't look that hard but I didn't want to lead a 10a right away so Robert headed up...once we all arrived we said to ourselves, "That was more like 5.7".  Indeed the ratings are as follows:

5.7, 5.9, 5.4 (short), 5.8, 5.10b (one section), 5.10b (sustained), 5.4

Robert is pleased to be here

All of the harder pitches were the best although the I thought the sustained one was easily the hardest as opposed to the crux section of the 5.10b.  I've never done a 5.10 slab and it took a lot of trust to use my feet more effectively.  The climb is therefore not strenuous at all but more balancy and delicate.  I took the opportunity as often as I could to take footage.  We swapped the camera out at each pitch so that there would be lots of footage of each person.

Quotes from Braveheart brought laughs (see the movie for more)

We rappelled the entire route and then headed over to Bathtub Dome for a handful of random climbs.  I led a 5.7 crack on the lower part of the dome.  I can't remember the names of these climbs...there are so many of them that it's ridiculous to keep up with them, so I just randomly describe them.  Anyway, with a new pair of shoes better suited for crack climbing, I had a lot more confidence.  Also, my jams are getting better, 'specially since I'm more open to "thumbs down" technique now.  Anyway, the lead was pretty easy although I did get a case of that damn sewing machine leg while trying to place a cam in the crack.  Michael and Robert followed up.  Robert led up a steep 5.9+ arete on the middle part of the Bathtub.  While I belayed, Michael sauntered down and soloed a 5.6 route that Robert had done while I was leading the crack.  Michael and I then followed up the arete and had a great time - a splendid climb, sir.  It was steep but the holds were there.

Watch the Condorphamine Addiction movie:

• Low res (8 meg, .wmv)
• High res (22 meg, .wmv)

Vantage, First Trip of the Year, March , 2004

Headed out with Justin, Marika, and Julie on this day, almost a year to the day after my first trip to Vantage. This time around, confidence was much higher. As usual, we started on the cold side of the Feathers playing around on an easy 5.6, although it was a little harder due to me wearing gloves (trying to keep previously frostbitten hands warm). We then popped around to the warm side where we did quick trips up very fun 5.8 and 5.9 climbs. An obnoxious mongrel, uncontrolled by his slacker owners, was roaming around and ended up wizzing on Justin's backpack. I suppose that started us off on our wandering nature of the day. We then headed to Zig Zag wall where I led a fun and long 5.7 climb. After that, we opted for Sunshine wall. Michael, Peter, and Kim were supposed to be over there and they indeed were. I was greeted by Michael belaying high atop one of the routes with a <distinct cool guy climber voice> "I mean, I'm not saying that you shouldn't...". The climbs on Sunshine are more exposed and intimidating than the others at Vantage and we opted for a nice easy intro with "Peaceful Warrior", 5.6. And then we decided to go wandering again, this time back to the Feathers where we ended on a 5.10a on Satan's Tower. I was upset I couldn't climb this one clean and had to rest (I ended up grabbing a tiny pocket in the wrong spot and couldn't quite support myself long enough). Once I realized the puzzle, it wasn't a problem.

The Feathers (above) and Zig Zag Wall (below)

Mount Si, Feb 13th, 2004

Before work, Michael and I went up Mount Si via the old Mount Si trail, and excellent trail and one that I'd never been up!  Actually, I've only been up Mount Si one other time.  Of course, I forgot something for the trip - my headlamp.  It turned out I didn't need it.  We hiked along in the dim gloom for quite a while before a brilliant sunrise gave way.  It took us two hours to get to the tip top.  At the last moment, we decided on going up the Haystack.  We both had crampons, though Michael's were mini crampons, only having four points on the very bottom.  So, he was much slower on the steep snowy terrain to the top.  The Haystack was a fun ending to the hike, and the views were rewarding.  Again, I found myself questioning why I didn't do this more frequently.

(top) Michael approaching the top, (bottom) I think that's Mount Rainier or something like that, actually, maybe it's Mailbox Peak

Mount Persis, Sometime in February

I'm writing this trip report very late.  Robert and I tried to get out for a climb of Persis and thus a good view of Mount Index.  However, the snow never let up on us, continually dumping thick flakes on us.  We followed the road all the way up to the spot where we had to make our way through timber.  A short bit of time in this mess of fallen trees and snow-laden branches plus the fact that we knew we wouldn't have any views convinced us to turn around.  It was a fun time though.